It seems impossible that New Year has been and gone, and February featuring Valentine’s Day is rolling around again.
For me, it’s not about chocolates and anonymous cards, but always a day to reflect on the loves I’m lucky enough to have in my life.
Part of our basic needs as humans is “LOVE and Belonging”, LOVE is something that we all need, and as we know, takes on different forms. We can be shown LOVE from our partners, family, friends, and our pets. As well as from the moments of kindness we are shown, and the warmth we feel by showing kindness and understanding to others.
The word AMAT means “to LOVE” in Latin, even though that’s not the reason we’re called AMAT, I do think it’s an amazing coincidence. What do I mean when I say to LOVE in an AMAT sense? We show the individuals we work with LOVE by offering them opportunities to fulfill hopes and aspirations, offer them a second chance, we do not judge someone based on their past or present, and we offer them access to other services that can support them with their individual needs as well as facilitating safe spaces where residents can establish new and appropriate friendships. AMAT UK has created an environment that makes sure all the individuals that we work with feel a sense of LOVE and Belonging when they enter our service and know that they will always be able to access this whether they live with us or not.
LOVE also represents new beginnings and ends. At the end of January, we were very sad to say goodbye to an extremely valued volunteer, Rod, who sadly passed away. Rod lived the last 5 years of his life as a member of the AMAT UK community, we take comfort in knowing that after years of struggling he finally found the support he needed from our service, that led to him experiencing the feeling of LOVE and Belonging he needed and gave back to us in abundance.
At the beginning of February, we are thrilled to welcome back an “old flame” who we have never stopped loving! Elaine will be resuming her position within the senior management team, it’s been a heavy winter without her, and the LOVE and passion she has for AMAT is why we are so pleased to welcome her back and continue her journey with us.
As always, we have a busy month of activities planned for HUB in February, not all themed around Valentine’s Day, but all of them will offer the participants the feeling of “LOVE and belonging”, it truly is at the heart of AMAT UK. We would also like to welcome 2 new partners to our community, Rubicon Cares who offer counselling t to victims of crime and The Hep C trust are also carrying out testing to anyone who thinks they may be affected.
AMAT UK is continuing our commitment to showing our staff “LOVE” too. As well as offering our residents a place to feel “LOVE and Belonging” and bespoke support, we also strive to offer this to our Staff. The Senior Management Team are currently developing a management training programme to offer staff the opportunity to develop and progress their careers.
After nearly 20 years of service, its fair to say that AMAT UK is one of the big LOVEs of my life, and I’m very proud to see the service achieve it’s 25th year in existence. As we would celebrate any birthday or anniversary for our loved ones, we’re working on a whole schedule of activities to celebrate this vital service being available to homeless adults in Medway and Kent for the last 25 years. We’ve come a long way from having a handful of houses back in 1997. We wouldn’t have made it this far without the ideas, innovation, hard work, dedication, and LOVE from everyone who has ever been involved in shaping AMAT into what it is now.
I’m going to sign off now, speak to you all in a couple of months, I will leave you with quote from the brilliant John Lennon which I feel sums up this blog in a simple sentence
“ LOVE is the answer, and you know that for sure.”
Thanks for reading
Jodie x
